Jameson Small wants more local farmers to start growing hops for the brewing trade. (Morrill staff photo)

ROLLINSFORD — Locally grown food has become increasingly popular in the past few years, as has locally produced beer.

But one of the main ingredients in beer — hops — rarely is grown in the Northeast anymore, and Rollinsford native Jameson Small is trying to change this.

Small manages Nelson Farms in Strafford and in addition to starting to grow his own hops has started the Isinglass River Hops Exchange to encourage others to start growing it.

Hops are one of the four main ingredients to beer — the other three being water, starch, and yeast. They come in a variety of types and are used in different amounts to give beer distinct flavors.

Hops are the female flowers of the hop plant. They look like miniature pinecones and grow like grapes on vines supported by trellises. The hops cones are harvested in the fall and the plants take about three years of growth to reach full yield.

They provide beer flavor and stability.

While some hops are grown in New England and New York state, the majority of American hops are grown in Washington, Oregon and Idaho on more than 30,000 acres.

Almost all breweries use hops after they have been pelletized because it is cleaner and more efficient to do so. According to Small, there is not currently a pelletizer in New England.

Small is trying to raise $80,000 to fund the Hops Exchange and purchase a pelletizing machine, in addition to other equipment to get the business going.

Small's main purchase will be the $46,000 pelletizing machine.

Small believes being able to offer New England hops will start a hop growing frenzy in the region, persuading farmers to grow hops and brewers to buy them.

“The biggest part is that these are hops that haven't been in commercial beer since Prohibition,” said Small about hops grown in New England. “There is a particular character and flavor that New England hops have to offer. It opens up a whole new flavor profile.”

While locally grown hops usually cost more for brewers, craft beer drinkers — who are much like fine wine drinkers — have proven that price is often not important in making a beer purchase.

For instance, a beer called Heady Topper, brewed by a Vermont-based brewery The Alchemist, has been reported to cost $70 for a 24 pack. That hasn't stopped hundreds of beer lovers from traveling from far away just to try it. The beer is so popular in fact, that many people are selling the empty beer cans on eBay.

Experts and brewers say Small faces an uphill battle. Hops are difficult and very expensive to grow.

But it does have history, and recent trends are on its side.

In the 1800s, the Northeast — New York specifically — was the hops capital of America.

“(New York) produced about 80 to 90 percent of the hops in the country,” said Steve Miller, a hops specialist at Cornell University. “At that time there was about 40,000 acres of hops grown in New York.”

Plant diseases combined with Prohibition in the 1920s to essentially wiped out the New York hops industry.”

Washington, Oregon and Idaho began growing the crop after Prohibition.

In the past decade, there has been a tiny resurgence in the Northeast hop farming industry.

It has coincided with a rise in popularity of craft beer. There are 35 New Hampshire breweries today, compared with 14 just 10 years ago. Many of these are small craft breweries.

Helping the rise in popularity of local hops was a brief inflation in the price of hops a few years ago. This prompted some farmers to try growing hops.

New York now has about 200 acres of hops and the New England states have about 40 acres.

There were none 10 years ago, according to Miller.

Many of these New England farmers sell their hops directly to breweries as whole cone hops.

Many breweries make beer with whole cone hops during the harvest season, and a few such as Sierra Nevada in California, make beer with whole cone hops year-round.

Aroostook Hops, in Westfield, Maine, for example, sells its hops in whole cone to Throwback Brewery in North Hampton.

But the majority of breweries, big and small, mainly use pelletized hops because brewing with whole cone hops is messier and less efficient.

Small said the hops industry in New England is rapidly outgrowing the demand for whole-cone hops, and someone needs to provide a pelletizing service soon.

“The market for whole cones is just about saturated,” said Small.

His Isinglass River Hops Exchange wants to be the first in New England to own a pelletizer. It plans to buy hops from various farmers in New England, pelletize them, and sell them to breweries.

Small said the goal is to encourage and support a new hop movement.

Getting farmers to grow hops will be the hardest part.

Hops are difficult and very expensive to grow, taking about three years to reach full yield, and requiring thousands of dollars in infrastructure for each acre.

“It is 10 and 15 thousand an acre just to establish one hop yard,” said Miller. “That does not include tractors and dryers and buildings and walk-in coolers.”

Jason Johnston, co-owner of Aroostook Hops, started his business with his wife a few years ago after experimenting with growing hops for his own beer.

“It's a very complex crop to grow,” said Johnston. Aroostook Hops now has four acres of hops.

Adding to the challenges is the fact that all New England hop farms will be in direct competition with the Pacific Northwest.

These large farms have perfected the growing of hops, and mass-produced hops are usually of better quality than local hops.

Still, the current popularity of local ingredients and the unique-minded pallets of craft beer drinkers, has been enough to encourage many local breweries to look into buying local hops.

Tuckerman's Brewery in Conway, Smuttynose Brewery in Hampton, Great Rhythm Brewery in Portsmouth and Blue Lobster Brewery in Hampton, all expressed an interest in buying local hops but said it must be of good quality.

“I would love to support local farmers and buy a local product,” said David Yarrington, director of brewing operations at Smuttynose.

Yarrington said Smuttynose Brewing Company met with Small earlier this year and purchased 500 pounds of local hops to be delivered this fall.

“I need to see really what he is talking about and the kind of quality,” said Yarrington, “but we will certainly purchase some hops from him this year.”

So far, The Hops Exchange has raised $4,900 toward its $80,000 goal in a recently ended fundraising campaign on the crowd sourcing website, Indiegogo.com, which had a $30,000 goal.

The first $20,000 would have been used to secure a loan to buy the pelletizer and other equipment, $5,000 would have gone toward helping farmers grow hops, and $5,000 would have gone toward helping brewers subsidize the cost of local ingredients.

Small said that the group will probably not be able to purchase a pelletizer for the fall harvest, but is hoping to buy the machine next year.

Ann George, administrator for Hop Growers of America, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting American hops, said she thinks the Northeast hop industry is here to stay.

“I think that you've got a base of demand now that is probably not going to go away unless our whole country were plunged into some big recession,” said George.

But she added that all future growth in the Northeast hop industry depends almost entirely on farmers' willingness to take a gamble, and put in hop fields.

“If you wake up one morning and you decide you want to be a radish grower you go out and buy some radish,” said George. “With hops you have to, one, invest in the land, and, two, invest in the infrastructure necessary to grow the crop.”